• Massachusetts’ highest court upheld a ruling preventing the city of Quincy, south of Boston, from installing two religious statues on a public safety building.
• The mayor commissioned $850,000 bronze statues of St. Michael and St. Florian, the patron saints of police and firefighters.
• A lower court previously determined the statues likely violated the state’s constitutional prohibition against favoring one religion.
• The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the preliminary injunction, blocking the statues’ installation while the case continues.

QUINCY, Mass. ‒ The highest court in Massachusetts has unanimously affirmed a lower court ruling prohibiting Quincy Mayor Tom Koch from erecting 10-foot-tall bronze statues of two Catholic saints on the facade of the city’s new public safety building.

A group of residents in Quincy, a city around 10 miles south of Boston, sued over the matter in May 2025. The following September, Judge William Sullivan determined that Koch and the city probably violated the state’s constitutional prohibition against favoring one religious denomination over another or favoring religion over non-religion. Sullivan’s order, known as a preliminary injunction, barred installation of the statues until the case, which is still pending in Norfolk Superior Court, reaches a final resolution.

The $175 million public safety headquarters opened in March 2026. Two empty niches for the statues now stand halfway up the impressive facade of the four-story, 120,000-square-foot building. 

Koch appealed Sullivan’s decision to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state’s highest court. In May 2026, the seven justices of the court heard oral arguments from the plaintiffs and the city.

Koch, a practicing Catholic, commissioned the statues of St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian, the patron saints of police and firefighters respectively, at a cost of $850,000. The order was placed in 2023, but neither the public nor elected city council knew of the plans until January 2025, when The Patriot Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network, first reported on the statues.

The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The city is represented by the Becket Fund, a nonprofit conservative law group. Attorneys on both sides are working pro bono.

The Supreme Judicial Court’s new decision also affirms that the lower court used the correct legal precedent, Colo v. Treasurer and Receiver General (1979), to evaluate the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction.

The decision does not conclude the case, which now returns to Norfolk Superior Court.

What the opinion says

In his opinion, Justice Scott Kafker found that Sullivan had not erred in finding that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed.

Unlike other religious symbolism on public property cited by the city, St. Michael and St. Florian would not appear among a collection of other figures drawn from different faith traditions, Kafker writes.

“The statues are large and will stand alone, they are brand new rather than long standing, they are closely affiliated with a particular religion, and they thus may convey to observing members of the public implicit government support for that religion and, as a result, subordination of other religions,” Kafker wrote.

Quincy mayor, Becket Fund respond to high court ruling

Koch’s chief of staff said the decision was “disappointing” but “preliminary” in an emailed statement to The Patriot Ledger. He said the city would “continue to fight for the ability to commemorate our first responders as the law permits.”

Becket Fund attorney Joe Davis, who is representing the city, echoed those sentiments in a statement to The Patriot Ledger.

“The City should not have to hide public art simply because some people may think of religion when they see it,” he said. “As the Court noted today, this is not the final word for these statues, and we will continue defending Quincy’s right to honor its heroes.”

ACLU, civil liberties groups, plaintiffs hails ‘landmark ruling’ from SJC

In a joint press release, the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation welcomed the decision as a “landmark ruling.”

“The justices ruled that the public interest weighs strongly in favor of maintaining the preliminary injunction, because if the statues were to be installed while the litigation continued, ‘the plaintiffs and other members of the public would have to confront them regularly, experiencing feelings of subordination given their own religious beliefs or nonbeliefs,'” the press release said, citing Kafker’s opinion.

Quincy resident Claire Fitzmaurice, a plaintiff in the case, said in the news release that the city “should be a place where we welcome people from all faiths and backgrounds.”

“To have these imposing religious statues looming over the entrance of the public safety building would fly in the face of that pluralistic ideal – especially as our city continues to grow more diverse,” Fitzmaurice said. “I look forward to our next day in court.”

David Reich, another city resident involved in the lawsuit, also welcomed the ruling.

“Like the mandatory prayers in 1950s public schools, affixing these statues to the public safety building would send a stark message to people in less-favored religious groups: You don’t count,” Reich said. He went on to say he was “grateful that the statues will remain far away from the public safety building while we pursue our lawsuit, so that nobody in 2020s Quincy receives that message from their government.”

ACLU of Massachusetts Legal Director Jessie Rossman, who argued before the high court in May, said in the news release that the government must remain neutral when it comes to religion.

“With today’s landmark ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court affirms those principles, which are the essential foundation of a pluralistic society where people of all faiths and no faith can flourish,” she said.

Contributing: BrieAnna Frank, USA TODAY